At one point Saturday afternoon, the entire USC football team turned the sideline at Sam Boyd Stadium into one giant mosh pit.

And then the whole lot of them plunged in — players, training staff members, coaches and everyone else associated with the Trojans — jumping and gyrating and body-slamming each other as they whooped up the Michael Jackson Moonwalk routine Nelson Agholor did on a first-half touchdown reception against Fresno State in the Las Vegas Bowl.

If you didn’t know beforehand, the Trojans were in Las Vegas, not El Paso, it was abundantly clear by then.

If you were skeptical prior to Saturday that they were actually happy and motivated to play in the Las Vegas Bowl, the dance party they threw after Agholor’s touchdown left no doubt.

But if you’re among the especially incredulous, the scoreboard provided the best closing argument of all.

The Trojans didn’t just beat Fresno State, they dominated.

From beginning to end and every minute in between.

Cody Kessler, who began the season alternating quarterback duties with Max Wittek, threw for a career-high 344 yards and badly outplayed Fresno State counterpart Derek Carr, widely considered a high first-round pick in next May’s NFL draft.

The USC defense held Carr to just 217 yards passing and the high-powered Bulldogs offense to 254 yards, well off their usual mark.

And USC wide receiver Marqise Lee, whose numbers plummeted this year after an early season knee injury, was finally healthy and finally back to his normal self with seven catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns.

And the best part of all, they had fun doing it.

“Everyone was excited to be here. Excited to go to a bowl game and excited to play a great Fresno State team,” USC offensive tackle Kevin Graf said. “We were focused the whole time here and it showed.”

Score one for good karma.

A year after turning their nose up on the Sun Bowl and then getting kicked up and down the field by Georgia Tech, the Trojans treated the Las Vegas Bowl like the BCS National Championship game, and played like it.

They didn’t just pretend they were happy to be here, they acted like it.

And unlike the gloom and doom act Lane Kiffin put on last year in El Paso, interim coach Clay Helton didn’t stand off by himself wearing a black hoodie and sullen look while setting a dismal tone for an uncaring performance.

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Instead he was engaged, active and demonstrative in what might be his only shot at a head coaching gig.

Amazing what positive disposition does for a team.

And it just goes to show how sometimes you get what you put into things.

A year ago, the Trojans trashed the good people of El Paso and disrespected the hard work they put into a bowl game they consider one of the jewel events of their city.

USC didn’t want to be there, not after coming into the season as the No. 1 team in the country and setting their sights on Miami and the national championship game.

But things quickly went sideways and by the time bowl season came around, the Trojans found themselves in El Paso rather than South Beach.

“We were in a very bad predicament last year with all the expectations and how it ended up,” USC safety Dion Bailey said.

You expected them to be disappointed, but there was no excuse for their pitiful behavior toward El Paso or the utter disdain they showed against Georgia Tech.

“We just didn’t handle the situation well,” Bailey conceded.

The behind-whipping they absorbed was an apt punishment.

The Trojans acted like jerks and got what they deserved.

But what a fantastic teaching opportunity it turned out to be.

Consider Saturday their final exam.

One they aced by the end of the first half.

“This was our redemption game,” USC guard John Martinez said. “Considering everything that’s happened to us this year, it was huge redemption for us.”

Had you taken a poll at the beginning of the season, the Las Vegas Bowl likely wouldn’t have been USC’s destination of choice.

Then again, nobody goes into a season hoping to finish in fifth place in their conference.

But the embarrassment of the Sun Bowl and the trials and tribulations of a season in which the Trojans have gone through three coaches and will answer to a fourth beginning tomorrow had a humbling affect.

To the point that, winning a 10th game was appreciated as if the Trojans had just won a national championship.

“We’ve been through so much here that it means the world for us to get this 10th win,” Graf said.

Just as importantly, they wanted to shed the arrogant image that followed them home from El Paso last year.